A family in context.

Ingles

Jen from the orphanage and one of the Tia’s asked if we could begin teaching the kids at Casa Harlow some basic English. Or response, “Of course!” We went over today, and one of the Tia’s and I struggled with communication a bit until we got around to understanding each other. Then Grant, the kids, I, and all the Ninos sat down in a room and began reading books and going over colors. It was very cute, very noisy haha. Kids have a very short attention span, but they definitely liked when we went over a color and I would ask them to go find the color and call it out in English.

Language is funny, because in a strange way, like all things we take for granted, when you are taught something new and different, it challenges what you already know. So English, for example, honestly, is so inconsistent in comparison to Spanish. The rules we have for English are bent this way and that and we memorize those exceptions and don’t really think about them again. There are phrases that I take for granted, that the kids use, we all use and when I actually think about it, it almost makes no sense at all. When someone tells me a common phrase in Spanish and I try to translate it directly into English, it is confusing and I just don’t get it. The next time you utter a common English phrase or expression, stop and think about it and try to break it apart, it is all in the intention of the phrase that makes sense and not necessarily the words making it up.

It is just a funny observation and it makes you think about language and communication in a different way. I hope you are all well!